The National Football League has finally come up with an agreement about the huge issue of replacement referees on Wednesday, September 26th. After the Green Bay Packers took a debatable loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, their was a vast controversy regarding replacement referees. “Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. Officials are not overturning this call which is calling for much outrage. Many say that this is one of the greatest injustices in NFL history. 

This story was big enough to appear as the top story on the sports page of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I really liked how the AJC found a way to incorporate the Atlanta Falcons into this situation. The article titled, "NFL reaches agreement with officials," shared views on what different Falcons players thought of the play at the end of the Green Bay-Seattle game. The Falcons players were also perplexed by how the game ended just as well as everyone else. 

Players and coaches are being fined for different incidents involving replacement referees. People obviously feel strongly about this issue and also the need to voice their opinions. Coaches and players are willing to be fined thousands of dollars in an attempt to end the NFL referee lockout. 

Many say that they could understand both sides of the argument. I honestly think that it depends on whether perception is actual reality. If officials can all honestly agree that this was a fair call with all of the controversy and criticism that the NFL has gotten, then there is a problem. It is not only the two teams that are involved, but it is everyone who actually watched the game. Their are many mixed opinions about what happened or what should have happened on Monday night. 

Before Thursday, I had no clue what the uproar was about regarding football and replacement referees. After a bit of research, I discovered that the National Football League locked out the original officials in June because their contract expired. For the past three weeks of this season, the league has been using replacement officials, which has caused a lot of discrepancies. 

The replacement referees are said to be making a number of questionable calls during the games. There has been a lot of criticism thus far as to how a lot of the games are being handled. These problematic calls could have also affected the outcomes of the games. 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution goes into depth specifically about two mistakes that the fill-in referees admitted to making during the Minnesota Vikings' win over the San Francisco 49ers game on Sunday. "My interpretation of it was that he could do that based upon the time factors and not knowing it was a challengeable play to begin with when he called timeout," Referee Ken Roan said. Both mistakes happened in the span of six plays.

There has been an increasing amount of frustration coming from fans, players, and coaches who are asking the league to end the lockout. I personally agree with the majority regarding the NFL replacement referees. Teams are being robbed of their wins due to these replacement referees who seem to know nothing about football. As I strolled down my timeline on twitter, I witnessed so many upset fans. As from the looks of it, these replacement referees seem to be clueless about what is really going on in the NFL. Many are predicting that the new replacement referees will be history in a few weeks. 

Political reporter Dave Weigel shared a comical tweet regarding the new replacement referees and journalists. I found this to be entertaining being that this somewhat relates to what author David Bornstein spoke about during his lecture on Solution Journalism at Marquette University. 

Having the opportunity to hear from solution journalist David Bornstein was amazing. Before attending this lecture at Marquette University, I was not sure what to expect. I had not been familiar with who David Bornstein was, but was very interested in learning more about him. I found him to be a very intriguing individual upon listening to his lecture. 

David Bornstein mentioned a few things that really stood out to me as a listener. An example of this was that "People turn away from a message if they do not get a solution." I applied this statement to my own life as I sat and listened to him. This encourages me to be more brief and clear when writing news stories. When all is said and done, people ultimately want to know what happened or what the solution to the problem is. 

Although I do not aspire to become a journalist after graduation, I am beginning to enjoy writing more than I had before. Bornstein explained that many public surveys say that the job of a journalist is to report on bad news. This did not shock me being that many people look at the media or journalists in general as being negative. This is very unfortunate because it obviously is not true. Journalists should provide clear, concise information and stories. 

David Bornstein mentioned that stories on how to solve problems tend to go viral. I totally agree with this statement because everyone wants to know what they can receive out of reading a story. During the lecture, I live tweeted something said by Bornstein that was related to the tweet below.

The whole experience of attending this lecture was very helpful for me. This had been my first time actually live tweeting at an event and I loved it. This actually made me pay more attention to what the speaker was saying. I did have a slight issue with picking out what I wanted to tweet and what I wanted to leave out, but overall I am satisfied with my choices. I learned not to attempt to tweet everything that the speaker was saying, but to point out more of the important points which I can apply to my personal self. 

Being that I was not formerly familiar with the speakers, I did find it quite difficult to manage being able to put the different hash tags in tweets all while focusing on paying attention to the speaker. I do believe that I received a lot of information from this lecture, but I am sure that I would have comprehended more if I had not been so focused on live tweeting. It seemed like a lot to handle all at once, but I am sure it is because it takes a bit more getting used to.  

I am looking foreword to getting better at live tweeting. This will also help my abilities to better multitask. I am always looking for room for improvement in my writing and and to network and I feel that this trend my be a good opportunity. 

I honestly do not know much about baseball, but I was able to learn a lot of baseball terminologies throughout this summer as I interned with the Milwaukee Brewers. The articles that I have read over the past weekend regarding the Atlanta Braves has also brought to mind more interesting things regarding baseball to my attention. I am not a professional when it comes to the sport of baseball, or therefore any sport, but I can say that I am learning a lot as I continue to write blogs and stay informed about what is going on in the sports industry. 

When browsing through the Atlanta Journal Constitution's website this weekend, I noticed a lot of information regarding the Atlanta Braves and their win against the Washington Nationals. The Braves pulled off a 2-1 victory over the first place Nationals. This is the Braves' first win against the Nationals since 2009 so this was seen as a big deal. 

As I read along, this win was definitely a big deal for the team. Everyday this weekend their were different stories on the Atlanta Journal Constitution's sports page regarding the Braves' win against the Nationals. Some say that it was an opportunity for the Atlanta Braves to prove themselves. 

Atlanta Braces starter Kris Medlen, had a career high of thirteen strikeouts. Medlen said, “I knew I had a bunch of two-strike counts. I didn’t necessarily know it was that many…. Enough about me. That was a huge win for us, especially against our division rival. A 1-1 game, pitched well from both sides, and our guys battled till the end.” I Braves seem very excited about this game and their hearts are back in it to win!

Before entering into this class, I was not familiar with blogging at all and had never done it. I have learned so many new things about blogging that I never knew before and it has only been a few weeks.  The art of blogging is continuously growing on me and I am excited to become a better, more experienced blogger. 

I was able to find a lot of the information from News University's "Developing a Successful Journalistic Blog" helpful and informative. I think that reading this article definitely brought a lot of things to my attention regarding my personal blogs. I know that I have a lot to work on and this reading was a good starting point. 

As Professor Herb Lowe has explained in class once before, the article also stated that the naming or title of your blog could make or break if someone will read it or not. I can personally attest to this being that I ignore numerous amounts of blogs that has a title which is interesting to me. I have now learned to write my article first, then to create a title afterwards that reflects the content included in the article. The main point of the title is to grad the audiences attention so that they will read your article. The title should be descriptive, yet to the point. 

The article also discussed the proper design of your site. This stood out to me because I first had a bit of trouble finding a background that suited me. I always look for things that are bright, going to stand out, and to help me express my personality. I am struggling with what is considered to be considered over the top versus professional.

The example of the different voices also stood out to me in this article. I am the type of person who comprehends so much easier by examples and visuals. The article provided examples of voices such as narrative, personal, snarky, lighthearted, etc. I feel like I should work on knowing when to use these different voices depending on whatever the topic of the blog may be. 

When first arriving to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's website on Tuesday, September 11, 2012, I honestly expected to see a wider range of the home page filled with information regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, there was a small section on the homepage titled "11 years after Sept. 11" with various subcategories listed below. 

Once I clicked on this link, I discovered a very in depth article regarding the eleventh anniversary of September 11, 2001. This article discussed a variety of things regarding this touching topic from negative political campaign advertisements being pulled on this day to the different ceremonies that were held across the country. Just from reading this article it brings tears to my eyes as I remember what happened on this day back in 2001. 

On the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, the World Trade Center site was not as elaborate as usual. Fewer people came out and some cities cancelled their ceremonies altogether. The article included people who had lost loved ones as a result of the 9/11 attacks. Wanda Ortiz, of New York City, who's husband was killed in the north twin tower said, "Its human nature, so people move on." It amazes me that Wanda is more concerned with keeping the memory of her husband alive.

Many worry that the memory of this significant day will soon fade away. In previous years, thousands of people attended the ceremonies in New York. This Tuesday morning, there was about 1000 people present. Being that last year was a milestone of the 10th anniversary, some may say that this year, less is more. 

On the actual day of September 11, 2001, I was in my third grade classroom.  Our lessons for the rest of the day were cancelled and we sat and watched the twin towers as they crashed to the ground. My fellow classmates and I had no idea what was going on and may have thought that this was not real. We all sat there in shock and confusion while my teacher silently cried as she looked at the television screen.  

Eleven years after, I look back and I can totally understand why everyone around me, including my family was so emotional on that day. I understand that every year on this day, their does not have to be a big event taken place, but I also do not want us Americans, to forget the significant change and unity that the 9/11 terrorist attacks have brought to our country. 

Weebly is a very good website but it takes some time to become familiar with.  There are a few confusing aspects of the site but I think that is a part of me being a rookie to the site.  As time passes, I am sure that I will become more familiar with what all I can do with Weebly.  I am sure that it could bring about many networking opportunities for myself.  I am also excited about Weebly because I feel that writing blogs as such will make me an overall better, more concise writer.  I am sure Weebly has much more to offer than what I have gotten familiar with and I am very excited to explore and learn other opportunities regarding this website. 

The "Introduction to Sports Reporting" article was very insightful. I learned a lot of things that I did not know about sports and writing before reading this article. This article summarized a lot of the general processes to reporting a sporting event. A specific thing that came in handy was the basic checklist for each story that I may write. Sometimes we may tend to forget the basic things in a story such as the setting, characters, plot, etc. I learned that I also would want to include the conflict at hand, perspectives/quotes from both sides, and the obvious of who won or lost the game. This article also gave me some ideas that could provide more "texture" to game stories or even ideas for future stories. Some of these ideas included stories on players returning from injuries, players that are improving, players' lives outside of sports, etc. These are things that I personally would have never thought of and this teaches me to think a bit more outside of the box and to my own creativity and personality to stories. 
The example sports story that was provided really helped me understand what a sports story should look like. Although I am not a huge sports fan, I really enjoyed learning about the process of transforming from a fan to a journalist. There is a big difference between simply watching a sports game and actually writing and observing. If I was to become a sports journalist, I know that I would personally have to continue to learn more about the sports that I will be covering, especially if it is one that is new to me.